Bhadrashila

There was a sage named Galava who lived on the banks of the Narmada river. Galava’s son was named Bhadrashila and he happened to be a jatismara. Bhadrashila was devoted to Vishnu. Even as a child, he had been in the habit of making temples to Vishnu out of clay and worshiping Vishnu. He would tell everyone about the virtues of observing a vrata on ekadashi tithi (the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight).

Galava was indeed very happy that his son was so devout. But he was also slightly mystified. He told Bhadrashila, “I am fortunate that I have such a devout son. Your character is beyond reproach and you are devoted to Vishnu You faithfully observe all the vratas. How did you come to acquired these traits?”

“That is because I remember the experiences of my earlier lives,” replied Bhadrashila. “I am a jatismara. I remember what Yama had told me.”

“Who were you in your earlier life?” asked Galava. “And what did Yama tell you?’

Bhadrashila recounted the story.

Bhadrashila used to be a king named Dharmakirti, born in the lunar dynasty. His guru was the sage Dattatreya. For nine thousand years Dharmakirti ruled the earth, performing good deeds as well as evil ones. But towards the end, he was drawn to evil and committed only sins. He associated with evil persons and his store of accumulatd punya was gradually depleted. Dharmakirti gave up the performance of yajnas; he deviated from the path prescribed by the Vedas. Taking a cue from their king, his subjects also became evil. A king is entitiled to one-sixth of his subjects’ earnings. Thus, Dharmakirti was also credited with one-sixth of the sins that his subjects committed.

One day, the king went on a hunt to the forest, he killed many deer and became hungry and thirsty. The river Reva flowed through the forest and Dharmakirti bathed in the river. But there was no food to be had. Meanwhile, some pilgrims also arrived there and these pilgrims were observing a vrata on ekadashi tithi. The rites involved fasting and staying awake at night. Together with the pilgrims, Dharmakirti also fasted and stayed awake at night. But the king was virtually starving from lack of food. When morning dawned, he died of starvation.

Yama’s servants arrived to take Dharmakirti to Yama. Their visages were terrible. The trip to Yama’s abode took many days, but eventually Dharmakriti arrived there and was taken before Yama.

Chirtragupta keeps account of all good deeds and sins. Yama called Chitragupta to him and said, “Dharmakirti has been brought here. Tell me about the punya that he has accumulated and the sins (papa) that he has committed.”

“This man has been really evil,” replied Chitragupta, “However, he has happened to fast on ekadashi tithi. His sins have, therefore, all been forgiven.”

Yama summoned his servants and started to soundly berate them. “What have you done?” he demanded “How dare you bring such a holy person to me? You have been told that you should not bring for punishment people who observe ekadashi vrata. Nor should you bring those who pray to Vishnu. Such people go straight to heaven. Bring only sinners here.”

Yama repeated to Dharmakirti what he had told this servants and the king became penitent for his past misdeeds. He had however accumulated a lot of punya because of observing ekadashi vrata. He therefore spent a lot of time in heaven, before being born again as a brahmana. It is because he remembered all these incidents that Bhadrashila was so devout. He ralized that if there was so much of punya to be obtained from unconsciously observing ekadashi vrata, great indeed must be the punya that could be attained from observing the rite consciously.

Galava regarded himself as exceedingly fortunate to have fathered such a wonderful son.